ssmith i feel your pain! i spent days up. but i never did what you did. i did nightly checks sure. but i knew my mare could handle it on her own. i was lucky enough to catch it.
my night schedule was
regular graining at 5-6pm
Night check and water refilling at 11 pm
if things seemed iffy at 11 we came back around 2-4am
and then came out around 6-8am the next day
granted it you NEED to be there my times arn't for you as it takes 15-30 minutes to have a baby and she could have it the minute you leave and you are left with hours of you not being there. i was fortunate enough to catch her foaling at around 8:30pm so all went well. i wish you the best of luck and don't worry! she can and most likely will handle it perfectly well by herself! don't forget those baby pictures!! = )

thecowgirlranda~ Thats a very nice gesture, but unfortunately I dont have marestare... I wish I did! I just went in to clean up her stall AGAIN, and I was going to pet her belly, and the heiffer acted like she was going to bite me! She has never bitten or kicked, only threatened when I was feeling her udders... but tonight shes moody... I can relate I guess...
As for the alarm clock... well, I hate to admit it, but when Im exhausted like Ihave been the past few weeks, alarms do me no good... I think I get up, walk across the room, and turn it off in my sleep... I never remember doing it the next morning though :) Now, if a kid coughs, IM UP... but since the boys arent here this weekend my maternal clock has gone to OFF :)

LOL, I do the exact same thing! After a few nights of foal watch.....alarms can beep and carry on all they want -- won't make a dent in my snores. I have no idea how they turn themselves off. <grin>

I think you will be safe to get some sleep. To me, her bag looks like a bag that is going to fill all the way and be normal. And her bag doesn't look quite full full yet. I would be willing to bet money that she will wax and drip milk the day of her birth. I've helped hundreds of births.....and your mare is telling me (my username should have been MareMidwifeWhisperer. LOL!) that tonight isn't that night. Just set your alarm (or two alarms) for one check in the middle of the night....and hope you hear it. lol

But, you know your mare best. I would hate for you to go through all this and then miss it. I'm just trying to explain what I see. Good luck!!

lilkitty90~ That actually sounds alot like my schedule. I usually move her from her pasture around 5:30pm, grain at 6, re-water her around 11-12, then i sit with her between 2 and 4am... then I sleep in my sons room so I can wake up every hour and look out the window :)... I will DEFINATELY be posting pics... and also pics of Dusty if and when there is any change. Thanks!

Juna~ I was kinda heading in the direction ur pointing me... I agree. Her bag does look like she may go ahead and be a normal bag (only going off the pics I have seen), and tonight her behavior is actually more normal than usual... I dont know if this is a relief or if this should scare me :) I know she is close... maybe a few days off, maybe a few weeks... I dont know. BUT, I dont think its tonight. As soon as there is any change with her I will post pics and keep everyone updated, even if its just her bag filling up more... and we will go from there. Tonight Im going to go to bed and get some rest... I actually got to sleep in this morning and maybe one more day of that will catch me up :) Thanks so much for all your advise!

No problem, sssmith! I'm rooting for you and I can't wait to see pics of the baby! I definitely think she is within a week of foaling...if not a couple days. Her vulva looks ready....even though you say that she isn't "puffy" back there all the time...most mares aren't. When they relax, their vulva relaxes. Sometimes I can't even check a vulva with a fidgety mare. She clamps her tail down and tightens up her vulva if I try to lift her tail. When she is relaxed is the correct time to judge a vulva.

And I think I just won the prize for saying the word, "vulva", the most times in one paragraph. LOL.

Okay, so now I have another question... Ive been reading horror stories apparently... and Im scared to leave her at all... if youve been following the thread then you know, Dusty was pretty emaciated when I got her in February... she now looks like a healthy, fat, well taken care of mare... Im just worrying NOW about whether or not I should have poured all the feed into her to pick her weight back up. I know before it goes to her, it goes to the baby... so obviously he/she got alot, since Dusty herself has gotten quite a bit... she is a small mare with a small frame, maybe 13.3Hands, so do you think maybe her baby might be too big for her to have?

and just now when she laid down she had some kind of leakage out of her vulva area... now its not leaking though, almost looked like urine... could it have just been urine dripping out? or was it something else?

Nothing yet...
MLS~ I do have her in a 24x24 paddock with a shed at night with ALL sharp corners covered! LOL... I have driven myself crazy trying to "foal proof". Also, I had my fences redone the week after my Baker horse cut his leg. They were the WORST kind of wire to have horses in ever... thanks to the ex-husband for that.... anyway, a friend of mine came out and redid my fences for me and he put 3 or 4 strands of barbless wire from the bottom up, and left 2 strands at the VERY top of the post, very close together so the horses wouldnt be reaching over the barbless and pushing posts over... I would have prederred to COMPLETELY do away with the barbed wire and get something more "horse safe" , but its just me and my 2 boys, my dog, and my horses, and we do okay for sure, but dont have alot of room expensive fence right now :) Thanks for ur advice anyway though, even though I have already been trying to "babyproof" as best as I can, it just gives me incentive to get out there and re-check everything! Always better safe than sorry!

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